Schedule an Appointment for San Antonio Medical Center Veintec Clinic

Woman Experiences Relief After Varicose Vein Treatment

P.M., San Antonio

“Even just sitting in school and studying, my varicose veins were painful.”

San Antonio patient P.M. was referred to Veintec’s Robert Thompson, M.D., a certified vascular surgeon, for treatment of her painful varicose veins. “I’m in school right now,” P.M. said, “and I could only do a limited amount of sitting at my desk to do my homework because of the pain.”

During her initial meeting with Dr. Thompson, P.M.’s first question was whether she would be able to travel by air the day after the procedure. The answer was yes, so P.M. was sold on the treatment sessions.

“The procedure was only about 45 minutes in the morning, and then I could go to work or to school in the afternoon,” P.M. said. “If I had the procedure on a Thursday, I could do a 3K walk or run on the weekend.”

“The whole idea is to keep you ambulatory after the procedure and thus reduce risk,” said Dr. Thompson. “With large varicose veins, which are big bulging veins you can see underneath skin, we can remove the vein with a laser. For medium-sized varicose veins, we perform a phlebectomy, which is what P.M. had. We create tiny pinpoint holes with a small needle and remove the veins. For the smallest veins, such as spider veins, we do sclerotherapy treatment, which involves injecting the spider veins with a scarring solution that causes an irritation in the inner wall of the vein and then the vein collapses. Spider veins are more of a cosmetic concern than a medical issue and can be treated in a few sessions.”

P.M. said that within three days of her varicose vein treatment, she felt a huge difference. “You’re pain free, it doesn’t hurt and it doesn’t burn,” she said. “You can do what you want to do and it’s excellent. I recommend it to everybody.”